Saying Goodbye

After months of not posting on this blog and not going around checking yours, the inevitable was a long time coming. I guess I’ve become too busy to juggle things out, and something’s gotta give. I’m sad that blogging became the casualty of the better things that’s been coming to my life. But after weighing things up, personal sacrifices has to be made to move on to better things.

I’m finally closing this blog (albeit it has been inactive for quite a while), but I’m doing so with a heavy heart because I’d be leaving a good chapter of my life which led me to friends and people who, in one way or another has stimulated some creative ideas with me, helped me to understand other point of views and led me to become a better person.

On the other forefront, I’m extatic. i’m doing new things and always being true to my goals that every year I have to learn new things to make myself better. To not rot in contentment. To always challenge and push myself ’till it hurts… To continually searching that one true thing that will make sense of what you do in this life… My personal Nirvana. My onwn Valhalla. My Gaia…

 I’ll still be active on my Flickr account, where I’d be posting art pictures from time to time. So please visit me there.

Shalom, friends… Cheers.

Goodbye… and Goodnight.

Another Milestone

The whole flat was dead empty. The quitness echoed and every step i took  on the parquet flooring seem to reverberate through the whole house by the time i clicked open the main door knob. Gush of air breeze swallowed my face as I opened the sliding casement window for that 5th floor unit. I inspected the Master’s bedroom and the two other rooms. nothing there but the built- in wardrobes. The whole house looked really spacious but I know it will be cramped by the time we finish shifting all our things in here. The dining area looked ok, with the bar counter on its side. it’s also empty. The kitchen I guess still needs a bit of work. the cabinets are too few for Jean’s liking and i know she will bug me to fill every place with things she can use. Well, this will be her castle and the kitchen her throne room. the bathrooms works fine and all the accessories were in place. i sat on the living hall floor and i looked around. Its a good feeling to really be in a home you can call home. Especially if it’s in your adopted country. Yes, the home is not fancy.But never the less a fruit of long hours of hard work. And if you’e in Singapore, you will know how hard it is to acquire one.

Tonight I will be bringing Jean here. I want to see her reaction as I give her the key to this flat… kept in a small box inscribed with “Happy 9th year Anniversarry”. I hope it will be a happy one. Fingers crossed.

Amor Vincit Omnia

Still as busy as hell… So I won’t be talking much. I’m posting below a piece I won way back as a Valentine essay. Enjoy it and have a Happy Velentines Day, everybody!!!!

We mortals do anything for love. We do the unbelievable, we go beyond limits and extremities, and will even move mountains (even how silly or stupid that sound) just to follow this force than even Isaac Newton himself agree to be “More powerful than gravity”.  

But how do we prove that love conquers all? Let’s count the ways:

Dido renounced Carthage for Aeneas, Agamemnon waged a bloody ten-year war against Troy for Helen and Mark Anthony defied the Roman Empire for Cleopatra.  

Inspired by the flair reminiscence of the 1001 Arabian Knights, The prince of Kuwait spent Two million dollars on a weeklong dining and carousing in a dome built for 20,000 people when Princess Salima (the most gorgeous girl in the middle East that time) agreed to marry her in 1980. King Edward IV, gave up his throne 105 days after his ascension into it to marry American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson. The law prohibits a monarch to marry divorcees so Edward, choosing love over being king, left the royalty to be with the woman from the land that never sleeps. He was later made governor of the Bahamas by his brother who succeeded him to the throne.  

Love, as they say, comes in the most unexpected situation. It drops to us mortals like say, a pot, or a safe from the 20th floor. It defies logic, it resists conventionalism and even enable people want to not see the truth about the people they love (Hence the saying “love is blind”?). Note how this people found love (or how love found them):
  

New York Columnist Mark Rither was in a city’s elevated train late for an appointment. Knowing he cannot do anything about it, he relaxed and sit next to a young lady. While traveling, he started talking to her. They got along so well that when the train reached City Hall stop, they disembark and got married.

Thomas Edison, the inventor who gave us the phonograph and the light bulb, was 56, already bug-eyed and suffering from dandruff and halitosis when he proposed marriage to a lady half his age. Edison proved that love needs no words. While walking along a sea boulevard, he took her hand and tapped his proposal to her palm—in Morse code. Luckily, the young woman knew the code and tapped back a three letter word—“Yes”.

Samuel Clemens (better known as Mark Twain, author of such classics as “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “Huckleberry Finn”) was on an ocean cruise when he came across a portrait of a young woman—model Olivia Langdon. Stricken by her beauty, he enquired about her, arranged to meet her and later married her.
  
Countless stories, fables and legends were made and told in the name of this thing called love. Kingdoms burned, Empires fell, and wars were fought because of it. Even conquerors such as Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan fell on its knees. Mona Lisa, the world’s most expensive painting was made because Leonardo Da Vinci was inspired by love in the first place. Inventions were made and crusades were launched for its honor. In fact, it’s maybe (even how mushy it can be) just what made the whole world go round. Conquerors come and go, but love will always be there. Love then, is the real conqueror of all. And it won’t be called conqueror for nothing. For if we have it we conquer hate, we vanquish the evil, we surmount fear, we defeat failure and triumph over aversion. It clears the darkest of hearts and free incarcerated souls. And the most important thing is that it feels good as much, as it heals.

 :)

Happy New Year?

I have to work through Christmas so I haven’t posted anything about the Yuletide. I hope you all had a very  Merry Christmas and enjoyed your holidays and vacations, guys.

It was really hard for me to celebrate Christmas anyway. I felt guilty feeling merry and gay when other of my friends were shedding tears over these trying times.The market’s at gloom here in Singapore right now (and i guess pretty so in many part of the world including the Philippines) because of the crisis crunch. A number of my colleagues has been retranched already (some are Filipinos who has been here only for few months) and some found their monthly salaries slashed by 20%. I felt really guilty that I could not prevent it from happening to them, especially that they always looked at me as someone they can rely to. But life has to go on and I can only hope and pray that the year ahead would be better for all of us, for the sake of our families and the people who relied on us for financial and moral supports. So here’s wishing everyone a really CRACKING NEW YEAR!!!

A snap of an old work

One of the great things about going for a short trip home is that I got a chance to picture my old works that hang on my parents’ house. The one above is a watercolor I did back in college, based from an old postcard I had. I was so happy of it back then. Now, I see all the flaws– harsh bold lines, distorted faces and all. It was even painted using cheap water colors (well, not THAT cheap though) and Chinese brushes. But when I remember all the hard work  put into it, the puzzles of resolving every color and the labyrinth in each and every curl of cloth, I’m still proud of it. Especially with all the things that I’ve learnt  and the improvement of skills I’ve acquired through the years after this painting. It’s satisfying to know that I have improved and developed as a person and as an artist as well, at least even in my own little way. it’s great to realize that I’m not redundant. that i have evolved and will continue evolving, still be learning more things– in life and in art– for the years to come. And this 38″x 24″ painting will be a living testament to that– as it hangs proudly on my parent’s dining room.

The Baclayon Stone Church

Homecoming gave me a chance to do a round- bohol trip once again with my family. it was fun and I got tons of pictures with it too. Baclayon was our first stop.

The Baclayon Church is the oldest Catholic stone church building in the Philippines. It was constructed during the Spanish occupation and the first Spanish missionaries (called doctrineros) settled in the area in the late 15th century. Today you can still see the original stone structure of the Baclayon Church in the City of Tagbilaran, Bohol, Philippines.

The church’s bell tower as seen from the carpark area.

There are other preserved church buildings in the region but the Baclayon Church is the best preserved among them. The church itself is Jesuit, but the Baclayon Church (the one we see today) was completed in 1727. The erected church building known today as the Baclayon Church is formally known as The Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.

The area where the Baclayon Church now stands was home to the Spanish Jesuit missionaries when they arrived in the Philippines. The Jesuits were forced to leave and move their headquarters to Loboc. This was due to fears of being mobbed by Moro marauders.

 The facade of the church as seen from the roadside.

In 1717 Baclayon was raised to the status of a parish. Thus construction on a new church (the Baclayon Church of today) began. The construction of the Baclayon Church required two hundred native laborers who were forced to do the work.

These artisans hauled coral stones from the sea, then skillfully cut them into square blocks, lifted the work using bamboo to move the stones into position, and piled them like bricks. About a million egg whites were used to cement the cut coral stones together. This was a testament to the great skill of these native artisans.

Interior. The very old but still elegant gold-plated altar and aged-old paintings that adorned the ceilings.

The Baclayon Church was completed in 1727 and a large bell was added in 1835. The church building had a dungeon where violators of Roman Catholic Law were punished. Filipino natives were its usual occupants.

The attractions we’ll see in the Baclayon Church include an old convent with a small museum. There you’ll see some centuries-old relics. Most artifacts you’ll see in the Baclayon Church museum are religious in nature. Antiquities of note are an ivory statue of Jesus Christ dating back to the 16th century, a statue of the Virgin Mary, St. Ignatius of Loyola’s relics, gold embroidered church vestments, a host of books and hymnals, and 1859 paintings of Liberato Gatchalian (famous Filipino painter).

The Immaculate Conception High School. Just beside the Baclayon church, is one of the oldest surviving stone edifice of the spanish era, and very well preserved that it is still used as part of the school presently.

Homecoming

Like a full- geared Greek army summoned by the great Agamemnon, I packed and readied my things as if I would be unleashed to sail straight to the deathly shores of Troy. When in fact I’m just coming home. Nevertheless, I made sure that all my things are ready and nothing’s forgotten—all in a week before our trip to the Philippines. It maybe a bit paranoid to some, but I always maintain a philosophy that I’d better be paranoid but ready than just be cool and be caught without a thing in hand when you need it the most. I’m excited. Maybe not as excited as when Columbus first touched the sands of the new world, but excited— nonetheless. It will be a short but great homecoming. I’d be seeing my folks for the first time in two and a half years; I have a prospect of a Master planning project with the mayor of Cagayan de Oro, had a pre-arranged Bohol tour and I’ll be joining my kin (all EIGHT of us) to give a surprise 60^th birthday celebration to my father.

Watercolour: Wine, fruit and flowers

My photography mode is still off so I just continue my painting state of mind. As you can see this painting is a very common among still life paintings. The set-up of wine, glass, fruit and flowers can be seen in gazillion paintings before. It’s not unique. It’s not groundbreaking. It’s not a leap of mind. It’s not revolutionary even.
…but it’s realism. And one of the hardest thing to do in transparent watercolour. Since unlike oil, you can not afford to make mistakes with its hues and patch it up with another color later.
It’s easy to paint impressionism, or cubism or abstract if you like. They’re good art. And I admire them too and wanted to try them one of these days.These art styles are even adored and praised around the world, especially with the ‘perception" that it is what today is the so- called manifestation of modern art.

Yeah, maybe realism is passe’. But  what you cannot take from it is that it takes real ability and skill to pull this style off. A skill that doesn’t usually associate with being a visionary or groundbreaking.

I admire artists who tries to be Van Gogh or Picasso. Or painters who splash paints on their paper/canvas with wild abandon to create ‘accidental’ art, but I’m all hands down to the common artist in the street who paint and draw things and people’s portraits and conveys a sense of realism so good, that it’s easy to forget that it takes real talent to get that done.

There’s a very beautiful and vivid essay about Watercolour Painting by Marlene Aguilar that you can read HERE.

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i’ll be going home to the Philippines to do some personal business and get a chance to visit the old folks. will be back in a week’s time, and hope to bring a lot of pictures by then.

Doing it in Pencils

I feel blessed. Simply because I have a job that I love doing. Just recently I’ve explored the medium of Colored pencils as a way to color my drawings, even in the architectural/ landscape ones that I do in my work. I have been returning back to manual renderings at work lately since clients seem to like it more than the 3d rendered ones.

Below are samples of the renderings I did for a project in China under Keppel Inc. They’re done in ink and colored with Derwent high quality pencils. hope you lik them.

Painting: Tug Boat

TUG BOATS are perhaps the most unglamorous of all the boats. not as big as luxury ships, not as beautiful as yachts, and not as fast as speed boats. They look ugly, they’re small, and not as pretty to look at as other boats. Yet,  they get the job done and are very useful. They help park ships quadruple their size,move industrial barges, lead Billion Dollar warships and tow Oil rigs. Tugboats are highly maneuverable, and its various propulsion systems have been developed to increase maneuverability and increase safety.
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I haven’t painted in a long while (traditinally, that is), and getting bacvk to it takes a lot of drive and inspiration just to get back that passion that used to burn infinitely within me. But I’m glad that i did. Since getting back to painting and smelling paints out of tube and seeing hues brushed on textured paper is kind of liberating– almost a healing process for me. It has its different effect ,different on howthe way photography gives me a different pesonal fulfillment or how poetry has that reflectional effect within me. i didn’t realize how I needed that feeling until I realize how I lost it. and just like that, the hunger is back. Anyway, the above painting is a continuation of my painting urge, that emanated from thinking of painting something so common but are more than what they seem to look or being perceived. This is the third one i’ve painted this month. The first one is the Banana still life i posted on Flickr, and a location painting in Chinese garden (will post that here soon).

Hope you like it. cheers.